Piano key and action combination



Jan. 2, 1940. A. H. MORSE ET AL PIANO KEY AND ACTION COMBINATION Filed Dec. 16, 1937 INVENTO RS Patented Jan. 2, 1940 PIANO KEY AND ACTION COMBINATION Arthur H. Morse, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Charles Pieper, South Fort Mitchell, Ky., assignors to The Baldwin Company, Cincinnati, Ohio Application December 16, 1937, Serial No. 180,184

Claims. (Cl. 84239) This invention pertains to grand pianos and mechanisms therefor. More particularly it relates to a space saving combination of various related parts of the keys and action of such pianos.

In the manufacture of grand pianos heretofore the organization of the'key and action assembly has been such as to necessitate a considerably greater vertical height for the instrument 19 than. is required with the use of our invention; and, moreover, the vertical compass of the rim of an ordinary grand piano must be noticeably greater than that of a pinion employing the invention. Thus, in constructing grand pianos embodying our key and action combination, more appropriate and compact cases can be adopted for pianos than have been hitherto possible.

With the object of space saving in view we have used in combination with our invention the type of lever for the back checks and dampers as shown in a copending United States patent application, Serial No. 150,190, filed June 24, 1937, by Arthur H. Morse -(one of the present applicants) and Edward J. Schneider for a Grand piano action and assigned to The Baldwin Company, the instant assignee.

The accompanying drawing sets forth the invention and together with this specification will enable anyone skilled in the art to make a grand piano embodying it. We shall now describe the invention in detail with reference, for clearness, to the drawing wherein:

Figure 1 represents a sectional, partial side elevation through a piano including the invention; and

' Figure 2 is a fragmentary front section view, on the plane AA of Figure 1, showing the type of construction at the ends of the keybed. With reference to Figure 1, a key I, of a length shorter than usual is pivoted at its inner end for vertical motion on a flange 2 attached to a rail 3. At a lower level than the key is an inwardly extending lever 4 against the front end of which the key I bears. More particularly, the key I bears against the head of an upwardly extending regulating screw 5 inserted in the front end of the lever 4, whereby the keyboard may be leveled at the proper height by a plurality of screws as 5 in levers 4. The lever 4 is pivoted intermediately for vertical movement on a flange 8 attached to a rail 1 and extends inwardlydownwardly therefrom.

At the inner end of lever 4 is'pivoted the upper end of a lifting link 8, the lower end of which is I pivoted to the outward extension of an inwardly pivoted wippen 9 of a grand piano action [0.

-The other components of the action ID are of the usual construction, with the exception of the back-check and damper lifting mechanism, these being operated by an inner extension of the wip- 5 pen 9 and a lever II, as shown in the Figure 1 and isspecifically disclosed in the aforementioned patent application Serial No. 150,190. It will be noted that the piano contains the usual strings l2, string-plate l3, and pinblock I, all above the action 10, and that it includes a case, or rim I5.

The operation of the organization disclosed, for tone production comprises the manual depression of the key I; the outer end of the lever 4 is thus depressed, raising the inner end of this lever and .5 with it the link 8; the wippen 9 is thus raised and the action [0 operated, the hammer rising to strike its string, or strings, to produce a piano tone; the back check and damper operate in a disclosed manner. It will be understood of 20 course that there may be a mechanism such as described, for each note of the piano.

Now it will be seen that whereas the action 10, with reference to the strings I2, string-plate I3 and pinblock I4, is placed in a usual position 25 below these parts, its position with respect to the keys I of the keyboard has been inverted so as to be below the keys; and since the keyboard is placed at the normally convenient height, for playing, the action I0 is considerably lower than 30 that in the usual grand piano. Advantages quite unobvious are attained by this arrangement-the over all height of the instrument is considerably reduced to become slightly more than the keyboard height, and the vertical compass of the rim is lessened, since in this construction the Vertical dimension of the keys and the clearances therefor need not be added to those of the key-action bed, pinblockand string-plate. Thus, grand pianos of more pleasing appearance can be con- 4 structed, and more appropriately compact cases can be adopted for the instruments.

It will be noted that in our construction the action ill, a manifold assembly for all the notes of the piano, is supported on a bed It attached 45 to the piano rim l5 and that for the keyboard comprised of the series of keys I, a separate bed i! is provided, attached to the piano in a manner we shall later describe. Connecting these two beds is a cove closure board l8. Action Ill, 50 assembled on rails, and on metal brackets as l9, which include the usual functions, is attached to a frame 2!! shiftable on the bed Hi. This shifting may be accomplished by the conventional soft pedal mechanism to provide reduced 55 tone volume efiects, in the usual way. However, according to our construction, it is not necessary to shift the keys with the action, the small amount of side play necessary between these two assemblies being provided by the pivotally attached links 8. An advantage of this is that the soft pedal may be operated with greater ease than it would be with the added mass of the keys.

Attached to some brackets 25 (whose function we shall describe later) is a rail 2! in which are inserted vertically extending regulating screws 22, against the head of each of which a lever 4 bears. These screws 22 perform the functions of key capstan screws in ordinary pianos, to remove lost motions between keys and hammers.

We have given attention to the manner of regulating and repairing pianos embodying the invention. Thus we have provided that the action be accessible in the piano, and that the action and keys be removable from the instrument, together or independently, for bench regulation or repair. The action becomes accessible simply by removing the cove board I8; and to remove the action independently of the keys we provide a swingable arrangement including a hinge 23, attached to the piano at the string-plate I3. It will be notedthat on this hinge the keys 4 and levers 4 may be swung upwardly out of the path of removal of the action, after disengaging the links 8 from their pivots in slots 24 in the wippens 9.

To remove the keys and action as a unit there is provided a number of metal brackets 25 (each corresponding to an action bracket l9) to which the rails 3 and T (and thus the keys and levers 4) are attached. When it is desired that the keys and action be taken out of the piano as a unit, the hinge 23 is detached from the mechanism by removing the fastening screws 26. Registering screws 2! and 28 are then applied, each screw 21 attaching a bracket 25 to its corresponding action bracket l9, and each screw 28 bearing against a bracket 19 for keyboard alignment and rigidity.

The keybed I1 is moved with the keys. This bed is permanently attached to the key-blocks 29, one at each end thereof, which in turn extend rearwardly to attach to the rail 1. The keybed I1 is disengageably attached to the piano rim l (see especially Figure 2) by angle irons 30, being detached therefrom when the keys are to be swung upward or removed.

For jack let-off adjustment in the action HI we have provided an arrangement 3|, whereby the position of the contact surface of a cam can be established by a screw and spring, as shown.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. In combination in apiano, a horizontally disposed, pivoted key; an action including a rearwardly pivoted, forwardly extending wippen located below the level of said key and an upward striking hammer; a string disposed horizontally above said action and arranged to be struck by said hammer; an intermediately pivoted, forwardly-rearwardly extending lever located above the level of said wippen, a front part of said lever being in operative connection with said key in front of the key pivot; and a linkage connection between a rear part of said lever and a free part of said wippen.

2. In combination in a piano, a horizontally disposed, pivoted key; an action including a rearwardly pivoted, forwardly extending wippen located below the level of said key and an upward striking hammer; a string disposed horizontally above said action and arranged to be struck by said hammer; an intermediately pivoted, forwardly-rearwardly extending lever located be tween the levels of said key and said wippen, said key bearing at a point in front of the key pivot upon a front part of said lever; and a linkage con nection between a rear part of said lever and a free part of said wippen.

3. The combination as set forth in claim 2, wherein the front part of said lever includes an upwardly extending adjusting screw against which said key bears, whereby said key may be regulated in height.

4. In combination in a piano, a horizontally disposed, pivoted key; a horizontally disposed string supported in a horizontal frame located rearwardly of said key, said string and said frame being substantially on a level with said key; an action located beneath said string and frame, said action including an upward striking hammer for striking said string and a rearwardly pivoted, forwardly extending wippen; an intermediately pivoted, forwardly-rearwardly extending lever located between the levels of said key and said wippen, said key bearing at a point in front of the key pivot upon a front part of said lever, said lever extending rearwardly and downwardly from the lever pivot, whereby said lever clears said frame; and a linkage connection between a rear part of said lever and a free part of said wippen.

5. In combination in a piano, a horizontally disposed keyboard including a plurality of pivoted keys; an action assembly including a plurality of rearwardly pivoted, forwardly extending wippens located below the level of said keys and a plurality of upward striking hammers; a plurality of tunable strings disposed horizontally above said assembly and arranged to be struck correspondingly by said hammers; a plurality of intermediately pivoted, forwardly-rearwardly extending levers located above the level of said wippens, a front part of each of said levers being in operative connection with the corresponding one of said keys in front of the key pivot; and a linkage connection between a rear part of each of said levers and a free part of the corresponding one of said wippens.

ARTHUR H. MORSE. CHARLES PIEPER. 

